Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Create a file to save your information

When saving your items on your computer, Outlook uses a data file called Outlook Personal Folders file (.pst)If you are using a Microsoft Exchange account, your items are usually delivered to and saved on the e-mail server. To allow you to work with your messages even when you can't connect to the e-mail server, Outlook offers offline folders, which are saved in an Offline Folder file (.ost)on your computer.

The primary distinctions between the two Outlook data file types are:

- Outlook .ost files are used only when you have an Exchange account and chose to work offline, or you use Cached Exchange Mode.
- Outlook .pst files are used for POP3 and HTTP accounts. When you want to create archives or backup files of the Outlook folders and items on your computer, including Exchange accounts, you must create and use additional .pst files.

When you run Outlook for the first time, the necessary data files are created automatically. However, there are times when you will create additional data files. For example, archived items can be saved in another .pst file. You might also keep different projects in their own .pst files.


Create a .pst file in Outlook 2003/Office Outlook 2007 format

By default, Outlook creates a .pst file in the latest file format, which supports larger files and Unicode character sets. This file format cannot be read with Microsoft Outlook 97, 98, 2000, or 2002.

1. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Outlook Data File.
2. Click Office Outlook Personal Folders File (.pst), and then click OK.
3. In the Create or Open Outlook Data File dialog box, in the File name box, type a name for the file, and then click OK.
4. In the Create Microsoft Personal Folders dialog box, in the Name box, type a display name for the .pst folder.
5. If you want to password-protect your data file, under Password, type your password in the Password and Verify Password text boxes.

The name of the folder that is associated with the data file appears in the Folder List. To view the Folder List, on the Go menu, click Folder List. By default, the folder is named Personal Folders.


Create a .pst file in the Outlook 97-2002 format

To create a data file that is compatible with Outlook 97, 98, 2000, or 2002, you can create an Outlook 97-2002 Personal Folders File (.pst). The file format for this .pst file is the same as the format that was available in Outlook 97, 98, 2000, and 2002.

1. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Outlook Data File.
2. Click Outlook 97-2002 Personal Folders File (.pst), and then click OK.
3. In the File name box, type a name for the file, and then click OK.
4. In the Name box, type a display name for the .pst folder.
5. If you want to password protect your data file, under Password, type your password in the Password and Verify Password text boxes.

The name of the folder that is associated with the data file appears in the Folder List. To view the Folder List, on the Go menu, click Folder List. By default, the folder is named Personal Folders.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Microsoft Outlook 2007 Running Slow ? Fix the Problem Now

Microsoft Outlook 2007 is painfully slow. Whether you are running a trial copy of Outlook or a licensed version, the performance of Outlook 2007 software is much slower than even it's predecessor, Outlook 2003.

The software freezes during start-up, the status bar shows "Loading Dataset.." for minutes and you can perform no actions on your email items unless that initial "Send/Receive" is complete.

If your work productivity is taking a hit due to the poor performance of Outlook, here are some suggestions and fixes to supercharge Outlook 2007:

1. Disable RSS Feeds in Microsoft Outlook 2007

Microsoft Outlook 12 installs with a set of RSS feeds - if you are not using Outlook to read RSS feeds, it's best to remove them from Outlook so that no resources are spent in synchronization of these feeds with the web.

Goto Tools - Account Settings - RSS Feeds. Select all the RSS feeds and hit the Remove butto

2. Disable Outlook Add-Ins You No Longer Use

Goto Tools - Trust Center and click the Add-ins tab. There's a GO button at the bottom of the dialog screen, click that button and uncheck (disable or even remove) the Outlook add-ins (like GoogleDesktop, iTunes Add-in, Acrobat PDF Maker, Mindjet Mindmanager, etc) that you no longer use.

[Do not disable the Windows Search Indexing addin]

If you have upgraded to Outlook 2007 from Outlook 2003 or XP, chances are that the old addin are not compatible with the new release and may be the reason behind the slugging performance of Outlook.

3. Reduce the size of your Outlook.pst personal folder.

Delete any items that you do not want to keep like emails with really large attachments). You can even archive them to a separate Outlook data file.

Now click Data File Management on the File Menu. Select the data file that you want to compact, and then click Compact Now in the Settings command.

4. Start Outlook 2007 in Safe Mode

If none of the above tricks, try running Outlook 2007 in safe mode (start -> Run dialog and type outlook /safe). The second option is to disable all your email rules and filters. And if Norton antivirus or Zone Alarm is configured with Outlook, disable that association. One of these actions should identify the culprit that's making Outlook to crawl.

It's likely that some of the tricks above would help in improving the performance of your Outlook 2007. If you are looking to improve the performance of Outlook 2003, try removing the MSN Messenger association with Outlook.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 SP2 - Email Program

Microsoft Office Outlook shines as an email client with great talent for organizing, solid spam and phishing filters, and seamless integration with to-do lists and scheduling. Outlook's message templates could be more flexible, though, and its smart folders could learn from example.

Pros

i) Outlook comes with solid and effective spam filtering and blocks phishing attempts
ii) Snappy, flexible search, virtual folders and mail grouping help you organize mail
iii) Outlook integrates email messages, to-do lists and scheduling well

Cons

i) Outlook is a bit confusing to set up and can be confusing to use with its myriad of options, too
ii) You cannot create smart folders or flags that learn by example
iii) Outlook lacks useful message templates, and its RSS feed reader flexibility

Description

i) Microsoft Office Outlook manages multiple POP, IMAP, Exchange, MSN and Hotmail accounts.
ii) Outlook offers powerful filters and ways to organize, label and find messages.
iii) Effective junk mail and phishing filters move unsolicited messages to a "Junk E-mail" folder automatically.
iv) Outlook offers "Search Folders", which automatically contain all items matching certain criteria.
v) Searching for any message in any folder or account is pleasantly fast in Outlook.
vi) Outlook supports S/MIME email encryption and IRM access control (e.g. mail can't be forwarded).
vii) To protect your privacy, Outlook doesn't download remote images, can display all mail in plain text.
viii) Outlook attachment preview lets you view many types of attached files right inside the message.
ix) An integrated RSS feed reader treats news items like emails.
x) Microsoft Office Outlook supports Windows XP/Vista.

Guide Review - Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 SP2 - Email Program
Whatever you want to do with email, chances are Outlook delivers.

Its easy to use spam and phishing filters effectively sort out the junk (set the filtering level to "high"), and Outlook's intelligent use of virtual folders, fast message searching, flagging, grouping and threading make dealing with even large amounts of good mail a snap. The included RSS feed reader lacks sophistication, but it does turn up news items as emails automatically — and typically that's just right.

It's a pity you can't train the junk mail filters — or even Outlook's otherwise so perfectly helpful categories. They could learn by example how you sort your mail. Unfortunately, Outlook also offers no way to apply categories to messages in IMAP accounts (they do work and roam perfectly with Exchange accounts).

Utility and ubiquity aside, Outlook is probably as well known as a target for viruses as it as a personal assistant. In spite — or because — of this history, Outlook 2007 goes to great lengths protecting your privacy and security. Outlook supports S/MIME message encryption, lets you display all mail in super-secure plain text only and even sports a custom, more secure, HTML message viewer.

Of course, Outlook has powerful filters and can be programmed to do many tasks automatically or expanded to learn new tricks with add-ons. Setting up flexible message templates for boilerplate replies isn't included, though.

While email editing works like a charm and with all the comfort you know from Word, there is one thing you'll find Outlook cannot do: rewrap the text if you prefer to write your email replies with the original message text indented the way some internet purists prefer.

More annoyingly, Outlook seems sluggish at times, when previewing an attachment in an IMAP account, for example, or — when opening a message.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Microsoft Warns Of 'Browse-And-Get-Owned' DirectX Flaw

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) on Thursday issued a security advisory stating that it's investigating reports of a vulnerability in Microsoft DirectX, the company's APIs for games and multimedia.

The company said that Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 are vulnerable and that Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 are not vulnerable.

The flaw could allow a remote attacker to execute malicious code by convincing or duping a user to open a specially crafted QuickTime media file or to visit a Web page that features QuickTime media file of this sort.

The vulnerability is not in Apple's QuickTime media software or in Microsoft Internet Explorer browser; it's in the DirectShow platform (quartz.dll). Nonetheless, Web browsers -- Internet Explorer and others -- represent an avenue of potential infection for users of vulnerable versions of Windows.

"While the vulnerability is NOT in IE or other browsers, a browse-and-get-owned attack vector does exist here via the media playback plug-ins of browsers," Microsoft security software engineer Chengyun Chu explained in a post on the Microsoft Security Research and Defense (MSRC) blog. "The attacker could construct a malicious Web page which uses the media playback plug-ins to play back a malicious QuickTime file to reach the vulnerability in Quartz.dll."

A successfully executed attack would give the attacker the same file access rights as the affected user. For users with administrative rights, the risk is greater than for users with more restricted rights.

Microsoft said it "is aware of limited, active attacks that use this exploit code." Chu has posted several steps that users can take to protect themselves on the MSRC blog.

Earlier this month, Microsoft issued a security advisory about an authentication bypass vulnerability in certain Microsoft Internet Information Services configurations.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Outlook 2007 Running Slow

Outlook 2007 is the latest version of popular e-mail client application. The 2007 version is available both as a separate application as well as a part of the Microsoft Office suite. This email client is versatile, powerful and is omni-present on 80 per cent of the desktops running Windows platform.

When using Microsoft Outlook 2007 you will possibly have come across the problem of the program freezing when you are composing an email. This is often frustrating as it could be frozen for several seconds every 30 seconds.

If your Outlook 2007 is running slow and you feel you have enough RAM and processing power to run it (which if your computer is even 3 or 4 years old it shouldn’t be a problem) then the problem more then likely to do with a few simple settings which I will cover here…

Solution 1: Create a new PST. Although the Outlook 2007 PST is essentially identical to the PST format new to Outlook 2003,Outlook 2007 writes additional data to the PST.

If this fixes the problem, import or move your items from your old PST to the new one.

Solution 2: Create a new profile. No need to delete the old profile just yet, just make a new one to see if the problem is fixed.

If this fixes the problem, you can delete the old profile.

Solution 3: Disable Outlook Setup Add-in (Instant Office add-in by Cyberlink). This add-in is responsible for converting meeting requests to recurring meetings and creating calendar and contact folders when saving attachments. It also slows Outlook down.

Go to Tools, Trust Center, Addins and locate the add-in. At the bottom of the screen, select Manage: COM add-ins and click Go. Remove the checkmark from the Cyberlink add-in and close the dialog.


After going through these simple steps you should find that Outlook is far more responsive then prior to the changes. If you find something is not working then repeat the steps above but test each of the boxes 1 at a time to find the one you need and leave all those you do not need, unchecked.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

iYogi Acquires Clean Machine Inc.

Larry Gordon, Founder of Clean Machine appointed as President Global Channel Sales at iYogi


New York, NY, May 11th, 2009 : iYogi, a global direct to consumer and small business remote technical support provider, today announced it’s acquisition of Clean Machine Inc, a provider of remotely administered PC security and performance management services. Clean Machine will operate as a separate brand under the iYogi services umbrella along with the recently lunched Support Dock (www.supportdock.com) and its comprehensive range of 24/7 technical support services for computers, printers, MP3 players, digital camera, routers, servers and more than 100 software applications. Larry Gordon, Founder of Clean Machine is appointed as the President of Global Channel Sales for iYogi.

computer repair,help and support

iYogi will integrate technology and innovation that Clean Machine Inc. has developed for delivering an enhanced service experience by proactively managing the health and security for PC's and Apple Computers. This acquisition also broadens iYogi's access to key markets through Clean Machine's existing partnerships. Larry Gordon's past experience and successful track record will accelerate iYogi's expansion through his focus on global alliances.
Commenting on the acquisition of Clean Machine Inc., Uday Challu, CEO & Co-founder of iYogi, said,

"This acquisition will help iYogi to enhance our customer experience and extend our market reach to the millions of consumers that are challenged by the increasingly complex technology environment. Clean Machine's proactive maintenance and management of PCs in home and small business environment will be our launch platform for building the next generation of managed services for consumers."

"We are delighted to have Larry spearheading partnerships and global alliances for iYogi. His incredible experience in marketing, sales and building global alliances will help forge partnerships with retailers, multiple service operators, software publishers, original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and other such companies that are at the frontlines for managing tech support issues for consumers and small businesses",
added Challu.


With more than 20 years of experience, Larry Gordon has played a variety of strategic roles in marketing, sales and building alliances. Larry was the Executive Vice President at Capgemini and Kanbay. He was also VP of Global Marketing for Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH), a leader in global IT services and Director of Marketing for New York based Information Builders.

"I am excited to join a company that shares a common mission to Clean Machine in creating a global brand for delivering the best technical support to consumers and small businesses. We also share a common approach of utilizing highly skilled talent with leading edge tools, thereby delivering services at incredible price-points, with high margins for our partners",
said Larry Gordon, the newly appointed President of Global Channel Sales at iYogi.

ABOUT IYOGI


Headquartered in Gurgaon, India with offices in New York, USA, iYogi provides personalized computer support for consumers and small businesses in United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. IYogi's 24/7 phone and remote technical assistance, spans across a comprehensive range of technologies we use every day from a wide range of vendors. Utilizing its proprietary technology iMantra , and highly qualified technicians, iYogi delivers amongst the highest benchmarks for resolution and customer satisfaction. iYogi is privately held and funded by SAP Ventures, Canaan Partners, and SVB India Capital Partners. iYogi was recently awarded the Red Herring Global 100 Award, recognizing it as one of the 100 most innovative private companies driving the future of technology. For more information on iYogi and a detailed list of technologies supported, visit: www.iyogi.net.

ABOUT CLEAN MACHINE


Clean Machine Inc. is a NJ-based and incorporated company that helps consumers and small business owners easily manage and protect their computing environments safely and cost effectively. The company is has a unique, powerful and inexpensive PC concierge service. Specifically, each customer is assigned a highly-trained tech concierge who remotely examines their computer system on a scheduled and very secure basis. The PC concierge will immediately fix software-based problems and prevent new threats to the customer's computing environment including offensive pop-ups, browser redirects and slow performance, and then provides a detailed report. Clean Machine's proprietary Radar(TM) technology (Remote Access Detection Audit and Repair) allows its expert technicians to remotely resolve any problems, eliminating the need for customers to go through the frustrating process of speaking with a tech support expert, and still having to do the work themselves. In other words, the Clean Machine PC concierges do it all. For more information on Clean Machine please visit www.pccleanmachine.com.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

iYogi Awarded Red Herring Top 100 Global Company

Recognizing the first, global, direct to consumers and small business technical support service from India

New York, January 21st, 2009 - iYogi (www.iyogi.net), today announced that it has been awarded as one of the Red Herring Top 100 Companies. Red Herring Top 100 Global Companies are chosen from winners and finalists of the previous Red Herring Top 100 Companies from North America, Europe and Asia Red Herring Top 100 Companies. Winning and finalist companies from the previous three years are were eligible for this outstanding award. Out of 1,800 successful and highly eligible companies, the Red Herring editorial team deployed a detailed process to drill-down the best companies first to 200 finalists, then to the top 100 winners of this global award. Evaluations were made on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, innovation, management, global strategy, and ecosystem integration. The announcement of the winners was made at the Red Herring 100 Global, which took place in San Diego from January 14-16, 2009. Present among the finalists were elite executives and venture capital leaders from around the world.

"We were so pleased to announce iYogi as a Red Herring Top 100 Global Company," commented Red Herring publisher Alex Vieux."

"iYogi has proven to be a company excelling in their industry and its ripples have turned into waves. It was difficult for us to narrow down, but we are pleased to have included iYogi in our list of promising companies. We look forward to the changes it makes to its industry in the future".

"iYogi set out to introduce a new kind of service that would change the way technical support is delivered to consumers and small businesses. We are proud to be recognized by Red Herring's editorial team for our innovation and dedication to solve everyday problems faced by millions of consumers who are challenged by the increasingly complex computing environment," commented Uday Challu, CEO, iyogi.
iYogi delivers technical support services directly to consumers and small businesses and is the first, global, technical support brand based out of India. The company offers its customers an unlimited, annual service subscription for $139.99 per desktop that includes support for a wide range of technologies, including PC hardware Microsoft Windows Operating System, software applications, peripherals and multifunctional devices. iYogi recently launched Support Dock, a comprehensive desktop application suite with PC recovery, data backup, anti-virus and spyware removal , PC optimization, and home networking tools. Small businesses are serviced by iYogi's dedicated services group offering managed IT services enabling owners to increase productivity and maximize their return on investment.

About Red Herring

Red Herring is a global media company, which unites the world's best high technology innovators, venture investors and business decision makers in a variety of forums: a leading innovation magazine, an online daily technology news service, technology newsletters and major events for technology leaders around the globe. Red Herring provides an insider's access to the global innovation economy, featuring unparalleled insights on the emerging technologies driving the economy. More information about Red Herring is available on the Internet at www.redherring.com.

About iYogi

iYogi delivers live, comprehensive, 24/7 technical support services directly to consumers and small businesses and is the first, global, technical support brand based out of India. Providing an annual unlimited subscription to technical support, iYogi now boasts of more than 50,000 customers. The company employs 600 professionals servicing customers in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and fast expanding to 12 new geographies across the globe. iYogi's resolution rate of 86 percent and customer satisfaction rate of 95 percent are amongst the highest published benchmarks in the industry. For further information, please visit - www.iyogi.net.


iYogi Contact:


Vishal Dhar
iYogi, Inc.
Phone: 212-229-0901
Email: vishal@iyogi.net

Red Herring Contact:

Anam Alpenia
Red Herring, Inc.
Phone: 650-428-2900
Email: aalpenia@redherring.com Yvonne Caprini
Logistics Manager
Red Herring, Inc.
Phone: 1 650 428 2900 x 410
Email: ycaprini@redherring.com